Chebucto Head

 One of the best ship viewing spots in Halifax is Chebucto Head, which is actually not within the harbour itself, but at the traditional entrance point well out on the coast.

It is marked by a lighthouse, a Vessel Traffic Services radar installation and several abandoned coastal defence gun emplacements. The 45 foot high lighthouse is located near the edge of the rocky headland, 162 ft above sea level. The only drawback to the location is that it is not directly accessible by car and involves a longish walk over a gated service road.The view of ships is ideal however.

This morning July 3 there were two outbound ships, and fortunately the fog retreated somewhat before they came into view.

MSC Sandra had dropped its pilot and was picking up speed en route for Barcelona on MSC's CANEX 2 service. The ship arrived in Halifax yesterday, July 2, from Montreal to top up its cargo to sea-going draft.

The ship was built in 2000 by Hanjin Heavy Industies + Construction Co Ltd in Busan. It is a 43,575 gt, 61,468 dwt vessel with a capacity of 4340 TEU including 150 reefers.

The second ship was CSL Tacoma with a cargo of raw gypsum ore loaded at Gold Bond's dock in Wright's Cove, lower Burnside, in Bedford Basin.

 Built by Chengxi Shipyard, Jiangyin in 2013 it is a 43,691 gt, 71,552 dwt self-unloader. It was not loaded to maximum draft because there is limited water depth alongside the Gold Bond dock. The ship arrived yesterday morning in ballast from Baltimore. Its destination on this trip was not updated on AIS.

While Chebucto Head is a great shipspotting location, it is a long way from town, and involves a long walk, so it is not a place I go very often. The excuse for today's visit was actually an outing for the Halifax Urban Sketchers Group, and I chose to draw the lighthouse and radar tower as one of my sketches. The structure on the right is the dangerously loud fog signal, which was not operating when I was there.

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